Nyssa City Manager and Councilors, Argus Observer Editorial Board, Mr. Allison, and Mr. Moore,

Although this message is long overdue, your north Idaho neighbors are nonetheless grateful for your recent expressions of concern about possible road damages and jurisdictional discrepancies imposed on eastern Oregonians by permitting and passage of three Omega Morgan-hauled “megaloads” [1, 2, 3].  As a correction to an excerpt of the second cited article below, “This is largely the same route that ExxonMobil used in 2012.  The number of those shipments in 2012?  Thirty-two.”, we would like to note that over 70 megaloads weighing up to 415,000 pounds traversed Highway 95 and Moscow between July 15, 2011, and March 6, 2012.  They originally numbered 33, but Mammoet split their 30-foot heights in half, to accommodate their movement under interstate overpasses.

A few weeks ago, just before the latest Oregon megaload onslaught and citizen resistance in the courts and streets that has kept us busy, Wild Idaho Rising Tide and four Moscow and Coeur d’Alene conservation- and climate change-oriented groups sent a letter to the Federal Highway Administration and other state and federal agencies, describing our concerns about the three 1.6-million-pound, Mammoet-hauled megaloads proposed for transport, via Highways 95 and 200 and Interstate 90, to a tar sands refinery tripling production in Great Falls [4].  We plan to circulate a media release about this statement soon and trust that you will find the following excerpt useful.  Please see the original letter for citations and links, especially to photos of Highway 95 road damage inflicted by ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil megaloads, also carried by Mammoet. Continue reading →

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Umatilla tribal members monitoring megaloads tonight (Wednesday) between Pilot Rock and likely Ukiah, Oregon, need our on-site solidarity and cooperative work, for their safety constantly compromised by cops.  See the monitoring notes about the Tuesday night megaload movement on the Wild Idaho Rising Tide and Portland Rising Tide facebook pages and below.

From Portland Rising Tide information:

The Oregon Department of Transportation permitted movement of the third Oregon megaload last week, just before a major regional snowstorm brought blizzard conditions up the Columbia Basin and snow to Lewiston area ports.  But as the snow melts, Portland Rising Tide and allies expect the Omega Morgan-hauled tar sands transport to move tonight, Tuesday, February 11.  They are hosting an anti-megaload rally at the Port of Umatilla, likely the last public opportunity in eastern Oregon to show tar sands profiteers that tribal and climate activists and Oregon citizens will not let them transform indigenous Umatilla homelands into a long-term, heavy haul route for dirty energy extraction equipment used to destroy the Earth and climate.

Please come prepared with warm clothes and rain gear for cold and rainy conditions, food and hot drinks, maps and protest signs and banners if you have them, and a plan for self-sufficiency and sleeping accommodations if you choose to stay overnight.  Most rally participants will return to Portland or other places after the protest.  Lowen is coordinating 3 pm ride shares converging outside the Cherry Sprout Grocery, 722 North Sumner Street in Portland.  Eddie is arranging 3 pm carpools departing the Red and Black Café at 400 SE 12th Avenue in Portland.  If you have space in your rally-bound vehicle or need a ride to participate, please stop by one of these locations and offer rides or gas funds for drivers.  Meet for a pre-rally gathering at the Quality Inn conference room, 705 Willamette Street in Umatilla, Oregon, at 7 pm on Tuesday, February 11.  Call Lowen at 503-407-8749 to discuss travel questions or issues. Continue reading →

On Tuesday, February 11, 2014, Peo Peo Mox Mox Chief Yellowbird and Headman of the Walla Walla Tribe, Carl Sampson, and Peter Goodman, representing Act On Climate, filed a lawsuit in Marion County Circuit Court, a day after dozens of supporters gathered outside.  Their case requests a court review of a permit issued by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) for Omega Morgan to haul a third tar sands mining equipment megaload on eastern Oregon scenic highways passing through tribal lands.

Their “Petition for Review of Agency Decision” asserts that ODOT failed to meet its legal obligations to determine whether “the public interests will be served” before it granted the permit on Thursday, February 6, 2014.  Federal and state laws mandate prior state government consultation with tribal governments, and Oregon statutes require ODOT determination of public interests, before issuing megaload variance permits.  The plaintiffs do not believe that ODOT is following state laws restricting such permitting to reflect public interests, unless the department first provides formal opportunities for the public to comment. Continue reading →

On Thursday, February 6, 2014, climate justice activist Cathy Sampson-Kruse and her attorney, Lauren Regan of the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), successfully resolved her Umatilla County Circuit Court case regarding her act of nonviolent civil disobedience that attempted to stop an Omega Morgan transport of megaload equipment, on its way to Alberta tar sands mining operations on December 2, 2013.*  Police arrested Cathy while she put her body upon the roadway, causing the obscenely large equipment to temporarily halt its path of destruction.  Ms. Sampson-Kruse, a Native American elder, grandmother, mother, and the daughter of Chief Yellowbird of the Walla Walla Tribe, has inspired her community and the climate justice movement.  After county sheriffs roughly arrested her and attempted to degrade her spirit, she was charged with disorderly conduct and the legally meritless charge of interfering with police.  On Thursday, Umatilla County Circuit Court followed the recommendation that she complete 20 hours of community service in exchange for a lesser violation conviction of disorderly conduct and dropped charges of interfering with police.  Ms. Sampson-Kruse and her attorney, Lauren Regan, are both pleased with this outcome.  Climate and tribal activists offer Cathy their gratitude, respect, and love, honoring her and all of the courageous regional protesters now and in the future, who prayed, sang, drummed, wrote, called, and supported Cathy’s and the movement’s shared spirit of megaload and tar sands resistance.  For more information or to donate to CLDC in Eugene, Oregon, please see the CLDC.org website or contact info@cldc.org or donate@cldc.org.

* Colin Murphey, Megaload Departs (December 3, 2013 Hermiston Herald)

(From a Civil Liberties Defense Center statement)